Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser., 1887-08-12
War Taxes.

The favorite idea of the Randall school
of so-caled Democrats, which happily for
the country is very small, is to urge the
abolition of the internal revenue system Of
taxation on liquors and tobacco on the
ground that these taxes are essentially
what are known as "war taxes To this
end they argue ingeniously enough, that
the declaration in the last Democratic
national platform favoring the early aboli-
tion of all war taxes is in direct support
of their position. They argue, with plaus-
ibility, that the system of tariff taxation
existed prior to the war, while the inter-
nal revenue system had, its origin during
the war; and that, therefore, the latter
alone properly comes under the designa-
tion of war taxes.
But the falacy of this argument is made
easily apparent. The motive of the Ran
dallites in urging the repeal of the inter-
nal taxes is, by depriving the government
of the large revenue from this source, to SO
reduce the surplus revenues as to blind
the people IN some measure to the extor-
tion of the present war rates of tariff tax
alton, which their local monopolies are
anxious to maintain. In their zeal they
appear to forget the fact that the present
high rates of tariff taxation, exceeding as
they do SO largely the ante bellum rates,
are to the extent of that excess, as much
war taxes as the internal revenue system.
They pretend to ignore the fact that it
was this excessive taxation to which the
minds of the platform makers was direct
ed when the plank in question was adopt
ed.
Conceding that the internal taxes and
the tariff taxes to the extent that they ex-
ceed the ante bellum rates, are equally
war taxes, then the spirit of the platform
would at least require that reductions in
these two branches of taxation should be
co-equally and correspondingly made
But the Randalites are not willing TO con-
cede SO much; while the sentiment of the
masses of the people is that the taxes on
whiskey and tobacco, being luxuries,
should be the last, instead OF the first to
be reduced. The Ohio Democrats, at
their recent convention, take clear ground
upon this point when they say in their
platform: 1--WE denounce any attempt TO
-uboiish the tax On liquors for the purpose
of keeping up the present unjust, unequal
and onerous tariff system"
The Virginia Democratic convention
last week fell into the Randall fallacy in
the makeup of its platform, for which it
receives the following well timed censure
from that staunch Democratic journal, the
Philadelphia Record: "The tariff resolu-
tion, while pretending to favor reduction
of duties, is a tricky evasion, borrowed
from one of Randall's Pennsylvania plat
forms. This species of double dealing on
great question of public policy is indig-
nantly repudiated by the Democrats every
where save in Virginia" The local in
terests of Virginia find the Randall idea
of abelishing internal taxes agreeable to
them, to the extent at least of the tax on
manufactured tobacco; because in Virgil
mia large proportion of their tobacco
crop is devoted to the domestic manufac-
ture. But there is no doubt that the Vir-
gipia representatives in Congress will be
satisfied with partial reduction of the
tobacco tax and will not 60 the whole
length of the Randall idea as is indicated
in their loosely drawn platform. The
Randall idea is not the Democratic idea
on this important question, and that fact
is very apparent.